


cross my heart and hope to die

by hexicity



Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Blood Drinking, M/M, Self Sacrifice, Simon Cant Stay Out Of Trouble, jimon, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-18 07:24:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10612050
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hexicity/pseuds/hexicity
Summary: Simon is willing to do anything to keep Jace safe. Even make up a ridiculous lie to explain how he became a Daylighter and possibly be drained dry.





	

In some ways, the whole thing was Simon’s fault. 

He’d known what would happen if word got out about his new ability to walk outside without disintegrating. Magnus had sat him down and, after a surprising moment of the warlock hugging him and smoothing his hair over like his mother, had told him the best and safest course of action. 

“Don’t let people know.” He’d advised. “If you go out during the day, be sure that you aren’t anywhere too public. Simon, you have what some vampires would kill for. And don’t underestimate them, because they just might.” 

“How would killing me help anything?” Simon had asked. He wanted to be angry at the idea of someone killing him for this, but he really couldn’t. Only a few months without sun had made him desperate. He wondered how many years would have to pass before he’d be willing to kill, too. 

“Well, remember, they have no idea what made you a Daylighter. They might think that drinking your blood could give them the ability.”

“Could it?”

Magnus had shrugged, and looked almost defeated by not knowing. “Maybe.”

At first, Simon really had stayed sealed up in the boathouse during the day. He even moved his bed to a spot where the sunlight shone through the cracks between the old boards and soaked up the small slices of sunshine he could get. 

But then a lingering coldness sunk into his bones, a permanent chill that he couldn’t get rid of. He tried jogging in place and pressing his body against the warm panels of wood and burying himself under blankets, but it wouldn’t go away. Clary found him, shivering in his makeshift bed and too exhausted to move. 

So once again Magnus’ expertise was required. 

“Is he sick?” Clary asked, sitting beside Simon on Magnus’ couch. He was wrapped up in two blankets, one that plugged into the wall and heated up, with a warm wet cloth draped around his neck. “Can he even get sick?” 

“Simon how do you feel?” Magnus asked him gently, putting his fingers under Simon’s chin and lifting his face. “Does anything hurt?” 

Simon shook his head. “Just c-cold.” 

“We had a dog when we were younger,” Alec spoke up from where he was watching in the nearby armchair, “and for a few days it wouldn’t get out of its bed. It would hardly lift its head at all, really. Izzy cried about it so much until our parents broke down and took it to the vet. Anyways, it turned out that the dog was physically fine. But it hardly got to go out, because we don’t exactly live in a normal house with a yard, so it just kind of...shut down.”

“You had a dog?” Clary asked, sounding baffled. “Shadowhunters have dogs?” 

“It was Jace’s. He named it Pollux.” Alec shrugged defensively. “Anyways, it could be like, Simon’s body knows it can accept sunlight now. And depriving himself of it is making his body react badly.” 

Simon and Clary looked at Magnus for confirmation, and he was looking at his boyfriend like he’d just cured cancer. Like he was the smartest man alive. 

“Okay, kiddo. I’m prescribing an hour of sunlight every day. The previous warning still stands, don’t do it anywhere where you’d be noticed by a vampire. Or someone who would inform a vampire. Okay?” Simon nodded, and Magnus leaned forward to press an affectionate kiss to his forehead. “Feel better.” 

It took about two days for Simon to get his strength back, and evidently Alec was right. Simply sitting in the sun atop his boathouse made him feel refreshed and warm. And then, eventually, when his phone timer went off and the hour was up, he just stayed. 

He couldn’t waste this gift. His body ached to be outside, to feel the sun against his skin. Laying inside in eternal coldness when he had the opportunity to be free wasn’t even life, it was just hiding. 

He took small steps. One day he went to the Institute, then to Central Park, then to Times Square. He avoided the Hotel Dumort. He went with Clary to get coffee and with Luke to get lunch and with Jace to just walk around and talk, to listen to Jace vent and reciprocate when he felt frustrations. 

He made it almost two weeks with no disturbances. But as all good things must come to an end, a vampire sat herself across from Simon at open mic night right in the middle of Maia’s song. 

“Do I know you?” Simon asked, already on alert. “That seat is actually taken, by my friend Maia. She’s just singing right now, but she’ll be back soon and uh, she’s gonna need her seat back--”

“I’m going to tell you what I need from you.” She interrupted. “And you’re going to do it.”

“Well.” Simon said. “I’ll see if I can help.” 

“How did you become a Daylighter?” She hissed. “Did Magnus Bane do it?” 

“No.” 

She must have seen the sincerity in his eyes, because she moved onto her next theory. “You’re around the Shadowhunters an awful lot. Is it something to do with them? Why would they help a Downworlder?” 

Simon’s one year of high school theatre failed him. Though he shook his head and tried to act completely unaffected by the mention of the Shadowhunters, she could see something that proved he was lying. She latched onto it. 

“What did they give you? Was it a potion or--or like a spell?” 

“No.” Simon sighed. “Why do you care how it happened? If you want to suck me dry, just get it over with. Playing twenty questions won’t help anything.”

She seemed startled. “I wouldn’t drink your worthless blood. Raphael said that wouldn’t even work. But why would you mention that? Did you...drink a Shadowhunter’s blood?” 

Simon’s chest tightened. This was wrong. He thought they’d just try to kill him, not go after Jace. Why would they go after Jace? Why would Raphael have told them not to go after Simon? In what world would it make any sort of sense for Jace to be punished after saving Simon’s life? 

Was the universe capable of being that ruthless? 

“I’ll tell you.” Simon said carefully. “But you have to promise not to kill me. Alright? I’ll tell you who I got it from, and you can go to him.” 

She nodded immediately. While Maia sang with her silky, angelic voice Simon let himself be dragged out the side door and into the alley. The vampire pinned him against a brick wall that was hastily decorated with Christmas lights. At least it was a pretty place to die. 

“There’s a Daylighter I met. He was traveling here, I don’t know where he was from. He had an accent.” Simon explained slowly. “I bit him. And when I woke up, I was invincible. He escaped, but I remember his name.” 

“What was his name?” She whispered, and he could almost forgive her. She looked young, younger than him. She couldn’t have been older than sixteen when she was turned. He could see the hope shining in her eyes and the slight sense of hesitation. Maybe she didn’t want to be doing this. 

“Pollux.” Simon said firmly. “And you can find him if you--” 

The bite didn’t even hurt. It startled him, because he wasn’t expecting it to happen yet, but it didn’t hurt. It only took a minute for his knees to buckle and his back to slide down the wall, and he thought of Jace. He thought that Jace might be upset if he realized that he’d given Simon his blood for no reason. 

But at least this way Jace was alive. Simon pictured Jace’s laugh, just two days before in Central Park, and the determination in his eyes when he talked about finding the Soul Sword and destroying it. He deserved to live over Simon. 

“Just remember,” Jace had told him one night in the park, “no matter what happens, we’ll look out for each other. You, me, Clary, Iz, Alec, Magnus. All of us. They can’t get us if we look out for each other.” 

His mind replayed that moment over and over while she drank from him, and then it abruptly stopped when she was suddenly yanked away from him. He opened his eyes and tried to decipher the hazy blur of golden and black that was suddenly in front of him. 

“Simon?” Jace’s voice swam through the numbness. “Simon. Simon, can you hear me?” 

“Mm.” 

“Good, oh my God. Thank God. Come on, grab onto me. Let’s go to Magnus.” 

He tried to get a grip on Jace’s arm, but his fingers couldn’t seem to grasp anything. Before he knew it, he was being hauled off his feet and his head was against Jace’s chest. The sound of his heartbeat was soothing enough to put Simon to sleep. 

He woke up again in a bed, and Alec was sitting beside him with a look of disbelief on his face. “Honestly, how many times can you get yourself hurt?” 

“A lot.” Simon managed to croak, and Alec rolled his eyes before whipping out his phone and texting someone, presumably Magnus. Simon remembered what happened, but not really falling asleep or passing out, whichever happened. “Oh G--. Did I drink from anyone?” 

“No.” Alec assured him. “Magnus had bags. Jace actually tried to give you some, but you wouldn’t take it. Magnus said it was kind of amazing, actually. Because you were starving.” 

Simon relaxed. “Good.” 

Magnus and Jace entered and gave him a weird mix of hugs and scornful lectures about safety, which was greatly comforting. Alec and Magnus left, the latter muttering about hopeless baby vampires. Jace stayed, sitting on the edge of Simon’s bed. 

“How’d you find me?” Simon asked through a yawn. 

“I came to hear you sing. Maia said she didn’t know where you went, and your phone was still at the table. I knew something was wrong. Why was that vampire drinking from you?” 

“She wanted to know how I became a Daylighter. And I lied and told her that drinking from other Daylighters worked.” 

Jace looked up to meet his gaze, seemingly surprised. “Why didn’t you tell her the truth?” 

“Because I didn’t want this to happen to you.” Simon shrugged. “I didn’t deserve your blood, and she definitely doesn’t.”

“You deserved it.” Jace said firmly. “God, Simon. You--you do these things for people, you nearly die for them, you refuse to drink from them when you’re literally starving. And you think you don’t deserve to be saved in exchange. Listen, you deserve good things. I’ve seen horrible people do horrible things, and you’re the opposite end of the spectrum. Trust me.”

Simon might’ve cried if he weren’t exhausted, but he could manage a weak grin. “Thanks. I like you too.” 

“Don’t ever almost die for me ever again.” 

“No promises.”

**Author's Note:**

> i got this via a tumblr prompt and if u wanna leave me a prompt or just chat, talk to me on tumblr @simonlewhiss


End file.
